get size of DataTable or ArrayList in memory

Question

There is some articles about How to get object size in memory ? but they does not explain how to get the size of an object in memory.

when I use:

System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.SizeOf(arrayListObject)

i get error:

Type 'System.Collections.ArrayList' cannot be marshaled as an unmanaged structure; no meaningful size or offset can be computed.

I also can not get the amount of all free memory, becouse i want to perform this calculation on web applications with a lot of threads, so a need to know exactly how much memory needs specific object.

Unless you're still stuck at .NET 1.1, you should not use `ArrayList`. Use `List — John Saunders, Mar 04 '10 at 12:03
Question is not about the way to use objects, For now I'm working with DataTable — Alexei.Ozon, Mar 09 '10 at 05:19

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 04 '10 at 11:50

2

You want to find out the size in memory of managed objects in code - according to this blog entry, it is not possible.

You need to use a memory profiler to do this (like the Ants profiler).

answered Mar 04 '10 at 11:50

Oded

489,969
99
883
1,009

I dont want to use profiler, i need to know the size to fire an alert/event or something – Alexei.Ozon Mar 09 '10 at 05:21

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 04 '10 at 11:48

1

If you want to know this because of possible optimizations: Use a memory profiler.

answered Mar 04 '10 at 11:48

Matthias

12,053
4
49
91

no, i don't want to know it for optimization, I want to know when my DataTable grows to much, to fire an event... – Alexei.Ozon Mar 09 '10 at 05:20

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 18 '13 at 18:27

And what about serializing the DataTable, and then checking its length?

System.Runtime.Serialization.IFormatter formatter = new System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter();
System.IO.MemoryStream stream = new System.IO.MemoryStream();
formatter.Serialize(stream, YourDataTable);
long length = stream.Length;

get size of DataTable or ArrayList in memory

3 Answers3